Combs: New book provides viable political alternatives

Libertarianism, also known as "classical liberalism" was the guiding philosophy of the Founders of the American Experiment in liberty. That experiment culminated in the formation of the United States of America, of course, before being quickly subverted by the federal government. Relatively few of the Founders, Alexander Hamilton, for example, were advocates of Big Government.

            Of course, no sooner was the Constitution ratified than the federal government began re-inventing itself and the "living Constitution." Anyone can see that the United States of today bears little resemblance to the confederation created in 1776-88. More importantly, very few Americans are even familiar with, let alone committed to, the principles of liberty. It's not taught in schools. It's not discussed at political conventions or rallies. Your glad-handing candidate for political office never mentions it, other than to occasionally denounce it as "a code word for radical terrorism" or "racism."

            "Libertarianism Today" is a fine new book that handily addresses that deficit. It will inform even the most unfamiliar reader with what libertarianism means. Yet writer Jacob Huebert, a lawyer and educator, is knowledgeable enough that dedicated libertarians will find it informative and will doubtless discover some new sources within. He accomplishes all this while keeping it light and entertainingly readable, which is a neat trick.

            Why even bother learning about libertarianism? After all, there are very few libertarians living today. There are many answers all around us: recession, depression, war, unemployment, inflation, debt, prison, disease, ignorance, corporate mercantilism, homelessness -- all due largely or entirely to corruption and malice in government, i.e. Democrats and Republicans.

            This book is needed. Today even celebrated political science professors at top-shelf universities often do not know what libertarian is or what its proponents hope to achieve. For example, Monday night on MSNBC's "Countdown", Princeton University Professor Melissa Harris-Lacewell called Rep. Ron Paul a "conservative," which displays shocking ignorance, considering her credentials as an "expert" in her field. 

              While libertarianism takes many of its cues from, and remains compatible with,  the ideology of the American Revolution, it did not originate there, nor has it remained stagnant. Huebert's book will introduce readers to the ideas of a host of great libertarian thinkers, then and now, from John Locke, Thomas Aquinas and Frederick Bastiat to Ayn Rand, Ludwig von Mises, Murray Rothbard, Walter Block and Ron Paul.

            I daresay few Americans are consistently libertarian, but nearly every American is libertarian on certain select issues. There are chapters detailing libertarian positions on economics (for the gold standard and free enterprise and against central banking, oligarchy and inflation); marijuana and other drugs (for free market access and against federal licensing and big pharmaceutical monopolies); health care (for free access to health care and against government licensing and medical establishment monopoly); education (for unrestricted private and homeschooling and against public school monopoly and government distortion of the market); guns (for the freedom to keep and bear arms for personal and common defense and against government violence); and peace (against aggressive war for empire and economic advantage).

            Other chapters deal with government's aggressive use of eminent domain to confiscate private property and turn it over to real estate developers, and the success of libertarians in getting many states to change their laws in that regard; the failure of the Libertarian Party on the national stage (no punches pulled here, Huebert goes for the throat) the prospects for the ascendance of libertarianism through the democratic process.

            Libertarians as a group have no interest in forcing freedom on others, Huebert explains, which is why comparatively few seek political office or vote. Libertarians by and large reject politics as being nothing but the use of force to impose standards of behavior on others, or to seize their property. Instead they try to secure liberty for themselves and for one another. Huebert explains the liberty movement's progress in alternative approaches like the Free State Project, in which some libertarians seek to move to New Hampshire or Wyoming for their common defense against ever-growing government.

            Huebert presents a very complete picture of the various strains of the movement today, and how various libertarians are struggling to make liberty universal. Perhaps the most controversial and hard-to-swallow idea gaining ground among the younger intellectuals in the movement, such as Roderick T. Long and Jeff Tucker, is the distinction they draw between real, tangible property and intellectual property. I have a hard time with this one, but perhaps the young kids will "dig" it; libertarians have no problem with you bootlegging CDs and file-sharing and such. Again, you don't have to agree; it's interesting and informative reading and prepares you for your next heated debate over neat Scotch and cigars with your reading buddies.      

            "Libertarianism Today" does the best job I have seen of summarizing the ideological traditions that are central to the American experience and utterly neglected in government, media and the academy today. These ideas are timeless. As Huebert writes, "Libertarianism is based on two unchanging principles; non-aggression and private property rights. The libertarian prescription -- more freedom, less government -- is the same is the same regardless of time or place."

Reporter and columnist Britt Combs writes for The McDowell News. He welcomes comments.